Craig, years ago I did a black gasket with electrical tape. The thing was to cut it thin enough, and then get it on the glazing straight enough that it looked right.
Hi,
Apologies for the lack of updates on this thread. I was really busy at the end of last year and didn’t have much time to finish the loco. I was determined though to push and get this completed and out in revenue service for our next ops session!
Here are a few photos of finished loco. The decals were courtesy of Stan Cederleaf, great work as always and a true pleasure to deal with! Thank you Stan!
All I need now is a bit of time and some good weather and I can take some proper photos out on the railroad!
The main details and mods are as follows:
- Roof detail: relocated air tanks and new 48’ dynamic cap top fan, as well as piping and fittings
- re-worked side grills to better represent the upgrades the Southern made
- removed side skirts, new “fatter” fuel and water tanks, new charging and fuel filler details
- cab roof: new M5 air horn and firecracker antenna
- Cab side: new grab irons on nose and added footplate to allow for washing of the windshields
- new round, recessed sand hatches on both sides of the loco.
- nose mounted MU receptacle cover
- detailed pilots: new rivet detail, as well as new brake and MU hoses
- new thinner home-made glazing in the front windshields
- new twin beam headlight and lens, 5mm warm white LEDs
- Truck side frames: brake pipes, sand lines, speedometer and ATS hot-shoe
- New tuxedo paint scheme, decals, number boards and builders plates
- Full DCC install and phoenix sound
PS: It doesn’t really come across so well in these photos but the number boards were done similar to the original: a black background with clear lettering instead of white. There is a warm white LED mounted just behind each number board, and this helps create the old-time look that the boards on these locos had, letting the light shine through the spaces of the numbers.
And finally, just a quick shot of the prototype that I am trying to base things around:
Best wishes,
Gavin
Outstanding, Gavin. Your weathering techniques and attention to the small details are wonderful… (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-smile.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)(http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Excellent rendition of the prototype.
Thank you Stan for your kind words! 
I will try and take a photo of this thing in action so you can see what a difference the new number board decals made!
Gavin
Great work… weathering is spot on… but wiper blades look too new.
Sean
Thanks Sean, the funning thing is I added them in afterwards and completely forgot to weather them! Thanks for reminding me! Sometimes you spend so long looking at something that you can’t see it any more! I’ll sort that out asap…
Here it is again, sorry for the poor picture quality. Wiper blades now weathered!
Wow
Gavin looks awesome!
Just that little detail changed the look!
Hmmmmm… I liked it better when the wiper blades was new-like. It looked like the creature had just come from the RIP track, sort of.
OK, I’ll go to my room, now. (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-innocent.gif)
Wasserflippen not withstanding, it looks great!
I liked the new-ish wiper arms. It looked like they were that way because of the frequent window washing. They would wash those as well.
Gad, we are nit pickers, aren’t we? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
It’s fair enough, I do enjoy hearing others comments and ideas! Sometimes people see things that you completely miss… At least it makes for an interesting debate Paul Birch previously mentioned a short coming in USA’s design of the truck mounted brake cylinders, and I received some helpful advice on selecting the correct builders plate for this model over on another diesel related modelling forum. It all helps to make you a better modeller at the end of the day so I really don’t mind at all!
Maybe it doesn’t come across so well in the photos, but Sean was right. When you take a small step back from the loco, the clean plastic does jump out at you quite quickly. A little touch of weathering on the wiper blade arms helped to tie things together. It looks closer to the prototype photos I’m following so that is more than good enough for me!
Anyway, thoughts and ideas are always welcome and thank you for following the build.
All the best,
G
well played.
Nice job. Almost to nice to be running outdoors.(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif) Later RJD
Steve Featherkile said:
Gad, we are nit pickers, aren’t we? (http://largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-laughing.gif)
Yep
That’s why I didn’t mention he forgot the mirrors in front of the wing windows…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)
Gavin as always fantastic work!
Thanks guys!
David you’re right though! I wasn’t quite sure about how to do them so I think I might come back to that one… I guess if you are this obsessed with detail then it makes sense to get things right!
I had that problem with the brake cylinders as USAT did move them slightly to help the model get round tighter curves. To me though, it has to able to run well. It’s a highly detailed model but I want to operate with it; I don’t want it to just be a shelf queen!
Best wishes,
G
Looking great Gavin. Nice work!
Gavin Smart said:
Thanks guys! David you’re right though! I wasn’t quite sure about how to do them so I think I might come back to that one
Gavin
Look at my OCS car the mirror material is the same tape I use for my Amtrak builds. You can also use chrome vinyl as the mirror glass. I was just joking and honestly no one will notice they are missing anyway. Once again it looks great!
Thanks, no problem at all! I will check out that build.
I was actually thinking about doing them once I had finished things off, it’s been soooo long now that I guess just wanted to get the loco finished! Thanks for the idea though, I appreciate it. I had re-worked a lot of the glazing on the loco already, removing some of the painted silver trim round the port holes, as well as completely new clear styrene wind shields, so the small side mirrors would be a really nice touch too!
To be continued…!
Did someone say something about missing side mirrors??! 
I was at work last night and I couldn’t stop thinking about it, that I had missed something on this build. I think I really need to get myself a social life!
Anyway, a little bit of styrene, brass rod and some kitchen foil when I got home and I was able to recreate the small half sized backup mirrors that were on these old F-units:
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Thanks again for the input folks, it all helps to make me a better modeller!